According to smartercomputing.org, this World Heritage Site covers approximately 2,400 km² in the Murray River Basin in southeastern New South Wales. The main attraction are the »Walls of China«, six large dry sea areas connected to one another. Traces of settlement and graves of Homo sapiens around 40,000 years old are impressive testimonies to early human civilization. The grass steppes around the lakes are the habitat of numerous rare animals such as emu, giant kangaroo and monitor lizard. Thousands of parrots and budgies populate the watering holes.
Willandra Lake District: Facts
| Official title: | Willandra Lake District |
| Cultural and natural monument: | Area of 2400 km² (1995), system of lakes that were formed over 2 million years ago in the Quaternary Ice Age, surrounding dune landscape, with salt-tolerant grasses and bushes as well as Mallee, a particularly small eucalyptus species, overgrown, 10% of the area designated as World Heritage placed under protection as Mungo National Park; in this national park three quarters of Lake Mungo and the spectacular “Walls of China”; 6 large, interconnected dry lake areas and 14 smaller ones with areas of 6 to 500 km²; conspicuous sediment deposits, the oldest sediment layer in orange-red color more than 50,000 years old; in the sediments finds of giant kangaroos (Procoptodon) and Zygomaturus; Habitat of the Australian aborigines as early as 35,000 to 40,000 years ago; partly used for extensive pasture farming since 1864 |
| Continent: | Australia / Oceania |
| Country: | Australia, New South Wales |
| Location: | Murray Basin, southeast of Broken Hill, New South Wales |
| Appointment: | 1981 |
| Meaning: | an extraordinary example of geological development and evidence of human prehistory flora and fauna: 22 species of mammals, mainly different species of bats, 40 species of reptiles and amphibians and 137 species of birds |
Time travel into the history of early civilization
Nature seldom provides insights into the early days of human life: the question of how people lived 40,000 years ago can usually only be answered with a wealth of assumptions. When spectacular finds came to light in the remote outback of Australia at the end of the 1960s, the sensation was perfect: 175 bone fragments were put together to form the remarkably well-preserved skeleton of a young woman named “Mungo Woman”. It had rested undisturbed in the sand for 26,000 years. Years later, the remains of a man who had been buried here 32,000 years ago were found not far from “Mungo Woman”. Together with the tools, earth ovens, animal bones and traces of domestic life, the sites at Lake Mungo are among the oldest evidence of human life on earth.
Only a few get lost in the semi-desert around the lake area of Willandra, because the dry scrubland, which is criss-crossed by sandy plains and small eucalyptus trees, appears too hostile to life. But dried up rivers and kilometers of dunes made of compressed sand sediments are not without charm and shape the bizarre, mysterious landscape. Red and gray kangaroos, which move with giant leaps, the emus, the prickly beaked hedgehog and lizards are among the residents of the otherwise sparsely populated region. Extensive farms defy the inhospitable region from yield in the form of sheep’s wool and lamb. But if you embark on a special kind of journey through time, you will see a completely different scenario emerge in your mind’s eye: lush green, fertile land where animals roamed the forests and steppes in abundance. Willandra Creek, created in the legends of the Australian natives by the mythical creature Bookoomurri and a giant kangaroo, fed Lake Mungo, which is rich in water and fish. However, around 15,000 years ago, a change in climate caused rivers to dry up and lakes to dry up. Nevertheless: due to the many, different old finds, it is known that Australian aborigines survived here and thus proved their almost unbelievable ability to adapt to new climatic conditions. However, around 15,000 years ago, a change in climate caused rivers to dry up and lakes to dry up. Nevertheless: due to the many, different old finds, it is known that Australian aborigines survived here and thus proved their almost unbelievable ability to adapt to new climatic conditions. However, around 15,000 years ago, a change in climate caused rivers to dry up and lakes to dry up. Nevertheless: due to the many, different old finds, it is known that Australian aborigines survived here and thus proved their almost unbelievable ability to adapt to new climatic conditions.
Today, the layers of sand on the bottom of Lake Mungo are the key to the past: landscapes and sediments hold the secrets of the Pleistocene, the Quaternary Ice Age that began around 2.5 million years ago and ended around 110,000 years ago, as if in its original state – a paradise for science. Between sand, earth, charcoal, shells, plaster of paris and other organic materials, the valuable finds from the early days are stored, miraculously preserved by the sudden change in climate that caused the lake landscape to dry out. Over the millennia, wind and rain have exposed those wild, rugged dunes, whose layers of sand shimmer in many colors and can be read by connoisseurs in their different layers like a book. A 60 kilometer long runway crosses the lake floor of Lake Mungo and leads to the »Great Wall of China«, a massive, shimmering dune formation made of pressed sand, which was formed by the steady westerly wind and is now a destination for adventurous travelers. In the constant alternation of wind and rain, which sweeps away the uppermost layers of sand, washes them out and buries them again under new sand drifts, sites with an abundance of surprising details continue to appear today, such as fireplaces with herringbones or that mysterious prehistoric fireplace whose sediment was revealed on closer inspection that around 31,000 years ago the direction of the earth’s magnetic rays deviated by 120 degrees from the north-south axis – and then, over the course of a few thousand years, returned to their present position!
The magical world of the Willandra Lakes has not yet revealed all of its secrets. Again and again a fine, steadily growing layer of sand covers the remains of a bygone civilization that is so much older than anyone could have imagined.
